--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A true photographer is as rare as a true…" description: "\"A true photographer is as rare as a true poet or a true painter.\" — Jean Cocteau" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/959/jean-cocteau-1181_painter_a-true-photographer-is-as-rare-as-a-true_1367148.jpg" --- # A true photographer is as rare as a true poet or a true… ![“A true photographer is as rare as a true poet or a true painter.” quote by Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/959/jean-cocteau-1181_painter_a-true-photographer-is-as-rare-as-a-true_1367148.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/959/jean-cocteau-1181_painter_a-true-photographer-is-as-rare-as-a-true_1367148.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/959/jean-cocteau-1181_painter_a-true-photographer-is-as-rare-as-a-true_1367148.jpg) > “A true photographer is as rare as a true poet or a true painter.” [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. True artists are as rare as true poets or painters, each embodying unique, authentic vision **In simple terms:** Genuine artists are exceedingly rare Key Takeaway Seek authenticity in creative pursuits Themes art rarity creativity Mood inspirational thoughtful Type essay quote When to use this quote - painting - photography - writing - performance art Key Concepts authenticity originality inspiration Questions to Reflect On - How can you cultivate authenticity in your work? - What defines a “true” artist for you? A Different Perspective May romanticize rarity, ignoring skill development ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Painter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/painter/) [Painting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/painting/) [Photographer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photographer/) [Photographer Rare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photographer-rare-4697955/) [Photography](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/photography/) [Poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poet/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Rare True](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rare-true-2048470/) [True Painter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/true-painter-3667328/) [True Photographer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/true-photographer-1598269/) [True Poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/true-poet/) ## Related quotes > [That's true, because I'm a photographer now.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-nimoy/that-s-true-because-i-m-a-photographer-now/) [Leonard Nimoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-nimoy/) > [The true painter strives to paint what can only be seen through his world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andre-malraux/the-true-painter-strives-to-paint-what-can-only-be-seen-through-his/) [Andre Malraux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andre-malraux/) > [The true painter must be able, with the most usual things, to have the most unusual ideas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salvador-dali/the-true-painter-must-be-able-with-the-most-usual-things-to-have-the/) [Salvador Dali](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salvador-dali/) > [A true poet does not bother to be poetical. Nor does a nursery gardener scent his roses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/a-true-poet-does-not-bother-to-be-poetical-nor-does-a-nursery/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [“How rare true love maybe, it is less so than true friendship.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/how-rare-true-love-maybe-it-is-less-so-than-true-friendship/) [François de La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/) > [However rare true love may be, it is less so than true friendship.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/however-rare-true-love-may-be-it-is-less-so-than-true-friendship/) [Francois de La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/) > [“True sorrow is as rare as true love. I'm”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-king/true-sorrow-is-as-rare-as-true-love-i-m/) [Stephen King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-king/) > [Rare as true love is, true friendship is still rarer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/rare-as-true-love-is-true-friendship-is-still-rarer/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [True sorrow is as rare as true love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-king/true-sorrow-is-as-rare-as-true-love/) [Stephen King](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-king/) > [Rare as is true love, true friendship is rarer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-de-la-fontaine/rare-as-is-true-love-true-friendship-is-rarer/) [Jean de La Fontaine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-de-la-fontaine/) > [However rare true love is, true friendship is rarer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/however-rare-true-love-is-true-friendship-is-rarer/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“As rare as true love actually is, true friendship is still harder to find.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jason-lloyd/as-rare-as-true-love-actually-is-true-friendship-is-still-harder-to/) [Jason Lloyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jason-lloyd/) > [Jacob wrote that the true poet 'is like a man who is happy anywhere, in endless measure, if he is allowed to look at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/jacob-wrote-that-the-true-poet-is-like-a-man-who-is-happy-anywhere-in/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“To be a poet, I realized, a true poet, was to become the Avatar of humanity incarnate; to accept the mantle of poet is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-simmons/to-be-a-poet-i-realized-a-true-poet-was-to-become-the-avatar-of/) [Dan Simmons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-simmons/) > [He who draws noble delights from sentiments of poetry is a true poet, though he has never written a line in all his life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-sand/he-who-draws-noble-delights-from-sentiments-of-poetry-is-a-true-poet/) [George Sand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-sand/) ## More by Jean Cocteau > [What is history after all? History is facts which become lies in the end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/what-is-history-after-all-history-is-facts-which-become-lies-in-the/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [I am happy to exhibit, but not to put myself on exhibition.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/i-am-happy-to-exhibit-but-not-to-put-myself-on-exhibition/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [Love is mainly an affair of short spasms. If these spasms disappoint us, love dies. It is very seldom that it weathers the experience…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/love-is-mainly-an-affair-of-short-spasms-if-these-spasms-disappoint/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [I believe in luck: how else can you explain the success of those you dislike?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/i-believe-in-luck-how-else-can-you-explain-the-success-of-those-you/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [I have a piece of great and sad news to tell you: I am dead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/i-have-a-piece-of-great-and-sad-news-to-tell-you-i-am-dead/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [Fight any instinct to be humorless, for humorlessness is the worst of all absurdities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/fight-any-instinct-to-be-humorless-for-humorlessness-is-the-worst-of/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [Lying is the only art form that the public sanctions and instinctively prefers to reality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/lying-is-the-only-art-form-that-the-public-sanctions-and/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [The dead drug leaves a ghost behind. At certain hours it haunts the house.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/the-dead-drug-leaves-a-ghost-behind-at-certain-hours-it-haunts-the/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [“Vivre est une chute horizontale”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/vivre-est-une-chute-horizontale/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [I expect a black silence that is almost as violent as laughter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/i-expect-a-black-silence-that-is-almost-as-violent-as-laughter/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [My method is simple: not to bother about poetry. It must come of its own accord. Merely whispering its name drives it away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/my-method-is-simple-not-to-bother-about-poetry-it-must-come-of-its/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [If a poet has a dream, it is not of becoming famous, but of being believed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/if-a-poet-has-a-dream-it-is-not-of-becoming-famous-but-of-being/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [Lack of manners is the sign of a hero.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/lack-of-manners-is-the-sign-of-a-hero/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [What the public criticizes in you, cultivate. It is you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/what-the-public-criticizes-in-you-cultivate-it-is-you/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [Here I am trying to live, or rather, I am trying to teach the death within me how to live.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/here-i-am-trying-to-live-or-rather-i-am-trying-to-teach-the-death/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) [Explore all 255 Jean Cocteau quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) ## More Painter quotes > [One is a painter because one wants so-called freedom; one doesn't want to go to the office every morning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-duchamp/one-is-a-painter-because-one-wants-so-called-freedom-one-doesn-t-want/) [Marcel Duchamp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-duchamp/) > [While the world of reality has its limits, the world of your imagination is without boundaries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wayne-dyer/while-the-world-of-reality-has-its-limits-the-world-of-your/) [Wayne Dyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wayne-dyer/) > [Not everyone is capable of madness; and of those lucky enough to be capable, not many have the courage for it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/august-strindberg/not-everyone-is-capable-of-madness-and-of-those-lucky-enough-to-be/) [August Strindberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/august-strindberg/) > [A painter should begin every canvas with a wash of black, because all things in nature are dark except where exposed by the light.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-da-vinci/a-painter-should-begin-every-canvas-with-a-wash-of-black-because-all/) [Leonardo da Vinci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-da-vinci/) > [“To all the secret writers, late-night painters, would-be singers, lapsed and scared artists of every stripe, dig out your paintbrush, or your flute, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shauna-niequist/to-all-the-secret-writers-late-night-painters-would-be-singers-lapsed/) [Shauna Niequist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shauna-niequist/) > [Sometimes I envy painters, it is wonderful to remain in front of a bouquet of flowers a whole morning, or even longer. A photographer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edouard-boubat/sometimes-i-envy-painters-it-is-wonderful-to-remain-in-front-of-a/) [Edouard Boubat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edouard-boubat/) > [It's different if you're a painter. You can hidethe ones that don't work. You can't do that with movies. They tellthe story of who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanley-tucci/it-s-different-if-you-re-a-painter-you-can-hidethe-ones-that-don-t/) [Stanley Tucci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanley-tucci/) > [Virtue is as little to be acquired by learning as genius; nay, the idea is barren, and is only to be employed as an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-schopenhauer/virtue-is-as-little-to-be-acquired-by-learning-as-genius-nay-the-idea/) [Arthur Schopenhauer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-schopenhauer/) > [When I was 12 years old, I went to Natchitoches, La.; it was summer vacation with my family. We visited a plantation, Melrose. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-wilson/when-i-was-12-years-old-i-went-to-natchitoches-la-it-was-summer/) [Robert Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-wilson/) > [A combination of the qualities of the scholar, the master cook, the painter, the gastronomer, the sportsman and the pantologist, assisted by the skill…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-ellwanger/a-combination-of-the-qualities-of-the-scholar-the-master-cook-the/) [George Ellwanger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-ellwanger/) > [But where does by far the bulk, the whole ambulance load, of pain really come from? Where must it come from? Isn't the true…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-d-salinger-2/but-where-does-by-far-the-bulk-the-whole-ambulance-load-of-pain/) [J. D. Salinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-d-salinger-2/) > [I've gradually fooled myself into becoming a real painter... I really just like to sit in my air-conditioned Rome painting studio surrounded by Medieval…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-kostabi/i-ve-gradually-fooled-myself-into-becoming-a-real-painter-i-really/) [Mark Kostabi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-kostabi/) > [I wanted to be a painter and an artist. And it's interesting that in some of my later musical works, I refer so often…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gunther-schuller/i-wanted-to-be-a-painter-and-an-artist-and-it-s-interesting-that-in/) [Gunther Schuller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gunther-schuller/) > [Painters are noted for being dissipated and wild.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-blake/painters-are-noted-for-being-dissipated-and-wild/) [William Blake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-blake/) > [What I did for my last act as a painter, if you call me a painter, was to photograph the weave of the canvas,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-denes/what-i-did-for-my-last-act-as-a-painter-if-you-call-me-a-painter-was/) [Agnes Denes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-denes/) [Browse all 1,685 Painter quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/painter/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "A true photographer is as rare as a true poet or a true painter.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jean Cocteau" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/a-true-photographer-is-as-rare-as-a-true-poet-or-a-true-painter/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Painter" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/a-true-photographer-is-as-rare-as-a-true-poet-or-a-true-painter/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/959/jean-cocteau-1181_painter_a-true-photographer-is-as-rare-as-a-true_1367148.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/959/jean-cocteau-1181_painter_a-true-photographer-is-as-rare-as-a-true_1367148.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/959/jean-cocteau-1181_painter_a-true-photographer-is-as-rare-as-a-true_1367148.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“A true photographer is as rare as a true poet or a true painter.” — Jean Cocteau", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Jean Cocteau", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "A true photographer is as rare...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/a-true-photographer-is-as-rare-as-a-true-poet-or-a-true-painter/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/a-true-photographer-is-as-rare-as-a-true-poet-or-a-true-painter/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```